[[actions-logging]]
==== Logging Action

A watch <<actions, action>> that simply logs text to the standard Elasticsearch logs.
See <<logging-action-attributes>> for the supported attributes. 

This action is primarily used during development and debugging.

[[configuring-logging-actions]]
===== Configuring Logging Actions

You configure logging actions in a watch's `actions` array. Action-specific attributes are
specified using the `logging` keyword.

The following snippet shows a simple logging action definition:

[source,json]
--------------------------------------------------
"actions" : {
  "log" : { <1>
    "transform" : { ... }, <2>
    "logging" : {
      "text" : "executed at {{ctx.execution_time}}" <3>
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------

<1> The id of the action.
<2> An optional <<transform, transform>> to transform the payload before executing the `logging` action.
<3> The text to be logged.

[[logging-action-attributes]]
.Logging Action Attributes
[options="header"]
|======
| Name                      |Required   | Default                  | Description
| `text`                    | yes       | -                        | The text that should be logged. Can be static text or include Mustache <<templates, templates>>.
| `category`                | no        | watcher.actions.logging  | The category under which the text will be logged.
| `level`                   | no        | info                     | The logging level. Valid values are: `error`, `warn`, `info`, `debug` and `trace`.
|======